Masada and The Dead Sea

Sunday, July 18, 2010 - Before my classes started, Ana and I took a tour to Masada and The Dead Sea. As these are really out in the desert, we wanted to see these things before summer set in, lest we broil out there.

Masada

If you don't know the story of Masada, it's one of many stories of Jewish history that's tailor-made for Hollywood. Masada, Hebrew for Fortress, was initially built by the Roman king Herod as a 'retreat' some decades BC. Herod built this retreat at the top of 1300-foot cliffs, making it horribly difficult to climb (or invade). At the top of these cliffs is a plateau the size of several football fields. Here he built his palace, overlooking the Dead Sea and the Judean desert.

Fast-forward a century or so later to around 70AD, many years after Herod died - but more importantly, the cataclysmic year when Jerusalem was decimated by the Romans. By this time, Jewish rebels (Sicarii) had made their homes there with their children, livestock, crops, aqueducts, and everything else they needed (even steam baths and a Synagogue) to survive without having to descend the mountain.

But they were Rebels, and this was not a good time to be a known Jewish rebel. Rome set out to eliminate them. They found much difficulty however in ascending the mountain unscathed, ended up building temporary camps below while they constructed an earthen ramp to the top, and a year later, finally, breached the walls. To their surprise, however, all 1000 Jews (save for supposedly 7) living in the village were found already dead.

Apparently, once the walls were breached, the Jews chose free suicide over forced slavery. The commander had “lots” drawn up (basically lottery) to decide who would kill whom and whose families (yes, including women and children), the last-man-standing to kill himself. And in fact, in the 1960s several lots were discovered at the site with men’s names written in ink – thought to be the lots themselves from those last few minutes before mass-suicide.

The remoteness of the fortress, lack of any rain (and thus, no overgrowth), and dry climate has kept this site as a world-renown site or one of the best-preserved anywhere.

The Dead Sea

After a solemn tour of a this story I’d long since known, we headed to the Dead Sea - the hills on the other side of the water being the country of Jordan. A quarter of a mile below sea level, signs abound everywhere boasting “The Lowest ___ on Earth!”. Fill in the blank with bar, road, shop, or anything else you can think of. The water is almost 1/3 salt, and literally poisonous to drink. Aside from algae, nothing lives in it (or can live in it).

As I’m sure you know, the salinity makes easy – no, almost compulsory – to float. You ease yourself into the water back-first like a decrepit old man, ensuring your head never goes below water. I got a tiny bit of water in one of my eyes at one point and it may as well have been Tabasco sauce. I had to flee and run to the clean-water showers like a Cyclops, only one eye half-open all the way as I ran in horrid pain. I then understood why all the signs forbidding you to submerge. It sucks.

And as you lay into the water, voila, you simply sit ontop as if it were a bed. If it weren’t so hot, it would be super easy to take a nap out there. I tried putting my feet down so I could stand and take a picture of Ana. This was quite difficult. I tried sinking my feet but they kept defying me and floating up. I had to exert myself a bit to make it happen. The water actually feels very oily, and is known (I think even verified) to cure some skin diseases. These days, the mud at the sea floor is literally harvested, manufactured as lotions, and sold all over the world.